


Escapism

by anonymo_su



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: (or at least it will be), Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Alternate Universe - Future, Alternate Universe - Human, Developing Relationship, F/F, F/M, Fusion, Implied Sexual Content, Multi, Past Relationship(s), Science Fiction, Smoking, War, longfic, sci-fi with feelings, so like SU then
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-04-28
Updated: 2016-10-20
Packaged: 2018-06-05 01:54:16
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,662
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6684532
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/anonymo_su/pseuds/anonymo_su
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Fusions are elite soldiers in humanity's war. Somehow Opal remains peaceful in spite of all that.</p><p>For the Pearl and the Amethyst who form her, the real war is back at home.</p><p>(2018 update: Chances of this fic ever getting another chapter are something like 25%. Haven't been motivated to write for SU in a while. Sorry guys.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Naissance

**Author's Note:**

> _"And if there were only some way of contriving that [...] an army should be made up of lovers and their beloved, they would be the very best governors of their own city, abstaining from all dishonour, and emulating one another in honour; and when fighting at each other's side, although a mere handful, they would overcome the world."_

All three of those strange, colourful eyes are looking at you with disbelief and exasperation. She shakes her head and that mass of fluffy blue-pink hair shakes with it.

"Did you forget, again?" she says. Oh, you weren't expecting her to sound like that. The lovely rich voice. But then, you don't know how you were expecting her to sound. Or if you were expecting anything in the first place? You haven't really had time. Only just woken up! Too excited by the body you've found yourself in to think about much else. 

And now you're back onto that train of thought. The one about the body! So many arms that you're still fascinated by, how they can be so in sync. You swivel those four arms around you a bit more, enjoying the sensation of two rows of shoulders circling them in two different directions. It's an odd sort of coordination, especially when you're used to having two arms.

Wait. 

_Are_ you used to having two arms? You feel as if you are. Don't know why, seeing as you've always had four. And you've only existed for... well, as many minutes as you have arms.

(You don't gain an extra arm for every minute you exist, do you?)

(No, you dismiss that as soon as you think it. That's silly.)

"Taking that as a yes," she says. Oh, she asked you a question before, didn't she? About forgetting. And you've been waving your arms about, instead of answering. But then you don't think you really took her question in. You don't think you really understood it. 

"I don't want to have to explain this to you every time." You can hear her voice wobbling a bit now. That's good! You love those wobbles. Seeing another side to this beautiful three-eyed creature. The wobbles are a reassurance that she's only human. 

... human? It's a figure of speech, you know, but humans tend not to have three eyes, purplish skin, and though she's shorter than you it's still clear from the tables around you that she's far taller than any human should be...

(Humans can still have blue and pink hair though, you concede. Just not without a rather lengthy dye job.)

But four arms? And pale lavender skin? You look down at yourself and it's now that, for the first time, you see the glowing gemstone on your chest: multifaceted, milky pale but sparkling colours of all kinds. There's a sensation coming from it, flooding through to the rest of your body. Feels like a heartbeat. A similar one coming from your forehead, too. You reach up with one of your hands and find fingers stroking a smooth surface. A little tingly.

You're barely aware of her speaking: she's asking you if you're figuring it out. All you know is that the answer is no.

"What _are_ we?"

She smiles softly, a slight weary droop in her eyelids. She stands up from her seat on the hard black bed; slowly, slowly, she approaches you.

Taking your uppermost pair of hands in her own two hands (why does she only have two?), she presses your thumbs with her own onto her two palms. It's the same tingly feeling, and you feel a gemstone on each: one triangle-faceted, one square-faceted, both a deep, earthy red.

"We are fusions," she replies. "You're the product of two humans back on Earth: one Pearl-class, one Amethyst-class. I'm made up of one Ruby and one Sapphire. The bond between our component parts has created us, and we are needed."

"For what?" you say.

The room explodes with sound, shaking everything inside. You flail your arms around to balance as the floor heaves beneath you. Cracks and seams even appear in the solid metal walls.

"That's what I love about being Garnet," she laughs, somehow at ease in the crumbling room. "Future Vision gives me _perfect_ timing."

And with that, Garnet(?) grabs your hand and runs.

She swings open the steel door and the two of you duck through; you barely manage not to bump your head. Up a short flight of concrete stairs, all charred and chipped, then you burst through to red sunlight, oppressive dark walls of rock leaning over on either side, vivid violet sky in between. The soil of the canyon around you smoking, scorched black. 

"Close your eyes," Garnet says.

You do, but even through your eyelids you can see the white flash. The shockwave drives through your body and this time you can't remain standing: you crash clumsily to the ground. 

Once the echoes of the sound are fading, you feel Garnet's hand tugging at one of yours, helping you pull yourself up.

"You don't have to have your eyes closed any more," she says; you open them. She nods at you. "Let's keep moving."

As you walk, you're still holding her hand -- you're not sure why. You like it, though. The gemstone's faint buzzing by your palm comforts you, and you need that among all this confusion. With the looming walls of the canyon threatening to diminish you despite your height, the feeling of her hand keeps you feeling real.

Seven minutes. The sensory barrage you've been given in that time is immense. But the walking and the silence is calming for you; after a while has passed, you have questions to ask. 

"You said we're needed. Why's that?"

"We're at war," states Garnet. "I don't know who with. They didn't instruct us in that prior to our first mission. Just told us we needed to fight."

"Our first mission?"

"The first time both of us came into being. It was a training mission. Well, a real mission, but an easy one."

"And what did we do?"

"They tasked us with capturing a small cache of the enemy's weapons. A short skirmish." She gives a soft laugh. "At first, I was just as confused as you are now. So were you. But we got the hang of it, and we learnt from it. Then you..."

Silence again, as you walk the scorched earth. 

You forgot. You've been through all this before, yet to you it's like it never happened. The feeling is unsettling, as you _try_ to remember -- but can't. Trying and failing to reach back further than you can go.

"Alright, we should be safe here. Just have to keep down."

Garnet sits down cross-legged, and you follow. 

"They tend to bomb twice and then go in for a raid," she tells you. "At least, from my experience. Future Vision tells me as much too: most likely, they'll be going in now, searching the bunker and ending up disappointed when all they find is our beds." A hint of a smile. "Then we head back in while they're off guard, and take them out."

You nod, trying to accept all this. "And then what do we do?"

She adjusts her legs a little and gives you a quizzical look. "That's it, that's our mission. We defuse, go back to being human couples on Earth, and presumably the next time you form Opal, you'll have forgotten everything. Again." Her forehead is tense around the third eye, but then she relaxes a little more. "Do you not have your mission objectives, then?"

"What?"

Garnet closes all three eyes. "You don't. Alright." Breathes in, breathes out. "You're meant to wake up with them in your head. You did on the second mission, so I suppose this one varies." A sigh. "I'll have to remember for the Ruby and the Sapphire to report a possible defect in your Gems. Do you remember how to summon your weapon?"

Despite the terms being unfamiliar, you feel as if you know how. 

You close your eyes and focus on the places from which your power flows: smooth Gem on the forehead, cut Gem on the chest. You picture a spear tip waiting below the skin of your face: with concentration, the spear rises. You clasp its base with a hand, swinging it to your side and then in front. A hand on the opposite side goes to your chest, a motion that feels instinctual: you can reach inside and find the handle of a whip. With a flourish, this rises too: you feel the length of rope arc up then down, wrapping around the tip of the spear.

A sensation of synthesis. You open your eyes. Before you, you hold a bow.

"Excellently done, Opal," says Garnet, and only now do you remember she's still there. She summons two gauntlets to match. 

Smiling, you throw the bow in the air with one hand, let it spin a little and catch it by the grip with another. A third hand summons an arrow and the fourth draws back the string for it to nock. Four-armed, fully-armed and ready for whatever the enemy has to throw at you.

"Shall we go?" you say. 

"I'll just check." Garnet puts an armoured finger to her temple, looking up and to the right.

Then a pause. 

"Shit," she remarks, matter-of-fact. 

The bomb hits.

* * *

Linda pulled her forehead away from Rav's chest as quickly as she could. The position was compromising enough to have to get into, and she didn't want to stay in it for one second longer than was necessary. 

"What's the matter, Lin? You got a problem with my boobs?" Rav chuckled. Then, mock-hurt and all too loud: "I thought you loved my tits, babe."

"We're practically in public," Linda hissed. "See? They're already coming to get us out!" Her opinion on her fusion partner's breasts was absolutely irrelevant: this was certainly not the time or place for crude humour. 

"No time for a quickie, then?"

Linda glared.

"Love ya too, Lin!"

The uniformed overseer pressed a button on the fibreglass fusion chamber encasing them. At once came the glow from Linda's head and Rav's chest: white for the former, purple for the latter.

Linda reached a hand towards her forehead's glow, drawing out the pearl with as much grace as she could muster. With dozens of missions to her name, the process had become automatic to her. At the same time, Rav was reaching into her glowing cleavage, pulling out her amethyst. She gave a little shiver as the stone came out: her chest's glow was subsiding but her expression was glowing instead. 

"Still feels weird," she said. "Just... pulling something out of your skin." She ran a finger over the cut surfaces of the Gem. "I like it."

Linda dismissed her: "You'll get used to it."

"Yeah, but I'll still enjoy it. Why you got to take the fun outta things, Lin?"

Linda bristled at the blatant disregard for grammar, as well as the inelegant abbreviation of her name, but said nothing of it. Like it or not, Rav was her partner now. At least this way she was still in the Sacred Band.

Another button pressed: the lid of the fusion chamber eased itself open. Both climbed out, Linda patting at her hair, Rav stretching and yawning.

To the side, the same was happening with the other pair. Ife almost stumbled as she got out, eyes focused firmly on the floor even by the time she'd found her feet. She offered a hand to help her partner get up: as always, Bibi's face was half-covered by her hair, but her movements were more rigid than her usual elegant glides.

The overseer collected their gemstones, one by one. Then the question they were dreading: "Report?"

"It was my fault," Ife spoke up, a little too quickly. Her hands fidgeted, her gaze still glued to the ground. "I was too impulsive. Garnet didn't think to check her Future Vision soon enough to avoid a bomb."

"We thought we were used to the pattern of bombings from our previous missions," Bibi added, voice calm as ever but with just an edge of bitterness. "While we were expecting to be able to ambush them as they raided the empty bunker, they instead decided to subvert our expectations. We failed the mission." Ife flinched at that. 

The overseer nodded, with an expression that no one could read. "You may return to your recreation. Further instructions will come in time."

Ife looked up at last, making eye contact with Bibi; her partner's tensed body relaxed a little at that. They left together, hand-in-hand, the same manner in which their fusion was formed.

Rav watched as they went, trying not to let her envy show. 

Only now was Linda realising how tense she had become. That was the first mission she'd failed in years. Digging her fingernails into the palm of her hand, she reminded herself: she had to be committed not to let that happen again. 

* * *

The two of them lay together on the bed (double, as was mandatory for all members of the Sacred Band, barring the occasional polyamorous group). Rav rambled on a stream of consciousness, spilling out anything and everything on her mind, as Linda (eyes clamped shut) tried to gather her own thoughts. 

Most of those thoughts were wishes that Rav would just _shut up_.

"Y'know, when they said they'd chosen me for the Sacred Band, I expected there to be more electric guitars," Rav mused, lying back on the bed, head resting on her arms. "Love a good guitarist. Always been more of a drummer myself, though." She nudged Linda: "You play anything?"

"Violin," she mumbled. "Classically trained."

"Wow, snore," said Rav, staring back up at the ceiling. Then, after a pause: "Hey, they have a music room in Upper Block D. All sorts of instruments lying around. Had a go on their drumkit when they were giving me the tour, it ain't too bad! You wanna come with?"

"Not now," Linda muttered. After everything that had happened as Opal, she was in need of some rest. She rolled from her back to her side, facing away from Rav, and drew her knees up to her chest.

"Alright, suit yourself."

The silence that followed came as a relief to Linda, but frustrated Rav all the more with every second that passed. There was an analogue clock on the wall, she could see the hand ticking round, and every single tick made Rav nothing but _ticked off._

"Hey, Lin?"

No acknowledgement. 

"Linda?"

"Yes, Ravneet?"

"Don't call me that. Makes it sound like you're my teacher."

Linda sighed. "What is it, Rav."

"I was thinking," she said. "Just wondering what kind of instrument Opal would play. I mean, she's got the talents of both of us, right? Like, your height, my _incredible hotness_..."

"Violin and drums, I'd presume," Linda stated.

"Well, yeah. But c'mon, wouldn't she be able to play some kind of fusion of them too? Like how my amethyst makes a whip and your pearl makes a spear, and together they turn into a bow." As Linda failed to respond, she added: "Oh, and Opal has your hotness too." Cheeky grin.

"I'm thinking," Linda said, and she was: it was an interesting question. A fusion of percussion and strings? No guarantee that Opal would be able to play it, but given some of their fusion's instincts, they could never be sure until they tried. 

She came to a realisation: "Piano."

"Huh?"

"Have you ever seen the inner workings of a piano?" Assuming Rav hadn't, she continued: "Each key is linked to a hammer, and each hammer is aligned with a string inside the piano. You press a key, the hammer swings up and strikes the corresponding string. Percussion and strings. That's how it works. It's absolutely _perfectly_ suited to Opal!"

"Nice." She'd never heard Linda this excited before. It was good, though. Satisfying. But then: "Wait, where are you going?"

Linda was already out of bed, and stretched a hand to Rav to help her out as well. 

"To the music room!"


	2. Rallentando

On arrival, they'd found the grand piano to be "out of order" (according to the sign) and "with a gaping hole in the top" (according to plain sight). So much for that plan.

Undeterred, Rav flipped a drumstick in the air, then brought it crashing down on the crash cymbal. _"Yes!"_

Linda didn't seem to care, being too busy looking through the violins. "Eighth-size... missing string... that one's a viola, who sorted these? And that one only has a single tuning peg left..."

"I was in a band once," Rav told her, getting into full flow on the drums. "Guitarist was a fucking beast! Could down three tequila shots and still play a wild Purple Haze." Roll on the snare drum, then back to the tom-toms. "But the singer? Total dick." Li'l trill on the hi-hats. Never too many cymbals! "I quit the band. Well, they made me quit once I snapped the singer's mic stand in half!" Bass drum with one more slam on the crash cymbals to finish. "Ha!"

"I couldn't hear a word of that over your drumming," Linda muttered.

"Get a hearing test," Rav snarked back.

Linda barely heard. "I suppose I can try the eighth-size..." She lifted it off the wall and tried it: small enough that her hand nearly wrapped around the neck twice. "Ugh. It'll have to do."

Rav slid off the drumstool and ran over. "Ha, oh my god, you got the tiny one!" 

Her partner scowled back.

"Oh, sorry for interrupting your sophisticated super-small violin time. I'll leave ya to it." Rav walked lazily back to the drums.

Taking the violin under her chin and the bow in one hand, Linda drew out a long note: G. The next string was D, then A, E... well, small as it was, at least this was somehow in tune. Somewhat reassured, she began to play a piece: it was the one she'd been learning for her college string ensemble before being chosen for the Sacred Band.

Years ago.

Slow, 3/4 time, somewhat melancholy... and being increasingly overpowered by Rav's infuriating drumming! Yet... she was keeping in time? And, surprisingly, fitting the tone of the piece quite well.

Just one thing: "Can you be a little quieter?" Linda called out. 

She expected some kind of comeback, but Rav's response was to lighten her touch on the drums. Still the same consistent beat as before, but now working in tandem with Linda's melody.

This was new.

Having never learnt the end of the piece, Linda transitioned into an upbeat Celtic folk tune, to give Rav room for some more energetic drumming. She responded in kind, grinning as she launched into a playful rhythm, indulging herself with as many cymbal crashes as she could fit in.

A voice chimed in, rich and warm, improvising a tune: "La-la la la-la-la..."

The violin fell silent in an instant. The drums played with nothing to accompany for a moment, then rumbled to a stop when Rav realised.

The singing voice again, now concerned: "Linda? Are you alright?"

Rav looked over to see that two people had entered the music room: one very tall in a yellow sundress, pink hair cascading down her back; the other a little less tall with a star shirt and a great big mane of rockstar hair.

"I'm fine," Linda said, cold.

"That was some amazing violin there," the rockstar-looking guy grinned. "I didn't know you played it!"

She was icy in response: "Of course you didn't."

The pink-haired one gave her a smile. "I've never seen you in this room before. How about we play together sometime?"

"I'd really rather not." Linda put the undersized violin back on the wall.

It wasn't hard to see that Linda was uncomfortable around these two, not even for Rav. She went over there, both to provide a distraction and to get to know them. After all, they looked cool!

"What's up, you guys?" she called out. Linda shot her a look of some kind, but went back to putting away her violin before Rav could parse it.

"Hey!" Rockstar guy gave a cheesy wave. "We were just in here to jam, see what songs we could cook up. Freya here sings, and I play guitar. You up for that?"

"Sure!" That got her another look from Linda. Definitely disapproval this time. But that wouldn't stop her. "Guitar, huh? You down for tequila at the bar after this? Never met a guitarist who doesn't drink it!"

"Well, uh, you've met one now. No, I usually stick to beer." With a lopsided smile: "Bit of a lightweight..."

Freya cut in. "So what's your name? I haven't seen you around before!"

"Rav! Yeah, only been here a few weeks. Amethyst class."

"Ah, of course!" Freya laughed, warm and rich. "Amethysts are always party people. I'm a Rose Quartz, and Greg here is a Chrysoprase..."

"But don't call me Chris!" he finished. The three of them chuckled.

Wait.

A Rose Quartz and a Chrysoprase, and a Pearl acting all cold around them? She'd heard something along these lines, and if it had been about these three, then...

Linda was holding her hand. "I'm so sorry, but my beloved partner and I have to be going now. We have a mission."

"Wait, really?" Greg checked his watch. "When it's half past ten at night?"

"Yes. Goodbye!" And with that, Linda dragged Rav out of the room, slamming the door behind them.

Rav stared at her. "What was all that about?"

"You don't want to talk to those two," she said, striding down the hall.

Rav had to jog to catch up with Linda's long legs: "Hey, who are you to tell me what I want?"

"Someone who knows them far better than I hope you ever will!"

"Alright, but..." Rav panted from keeping up with Linda. Was she getting faster? "What about the whole 'beloved partner' thing? What was that about?"

"Well, you _are_ my beloved partner, aren't you? We love each other very much, and are doing just fine without either of them."

Oh. "So it was about you."

Pearl stopped dead. In a voice straining to be calm: "What was?"

"There are rumours, you know."

"Rumours are never true." She sounded on the verge of choking.

Rav found herself shouting, unable to help it. "You can't just deny this!"

_"Ravneet!"_ Tears were forming in the corners of Linda's eyes. She glared for a moment, her breath shuddering with sobs. "Find somewhere else to stay for tonight. I will be sleeping alone." And with that, Linda darted off, taking a turn and leaping down the nearby stairs.

"Fine!" Rav yelled after her, but she was too far away to hear. And too far gone to care.

* * *

Vidalia was on the same barstool as always. The young Coral was finishing off a cocktail, sipping it with disinterest.

"Hey, Vidalia!" Rav called out, a little lacklustre.

Already buzzed, she had to look around the bar a while to find the voice: "Oh, Rav! Hey!"

Rav pulled herself up onto the tall stool beside her. "What's up?"

"This cocktail sucks." A bartender side-eyed her, to which she replied, "Sorry, Phil!" Then, lowering her voice to a whisper: "No, seriously, this cocktail sucks! I knew there was a reason I didn't order the Americano any more, You want some advice from a seasoned Sacred Band member? Don't order the Americano."

With a characteristic cackle, Rav yelled out: "Yo Phil, we're in need of some serious vodka over here! The blueberry kind!" A nod, two shot glasses poured, and it was brought over.

On the count of three, the two of them knocked them back. "Yep! That's the good stuff," said Vidalia.

"Yeah."

The buzz would take a little while to kick in, so while she was still sober, Rav had something to ask. 

"Yo, V. Is it cool if I stay with you for the night?"

"Sure!" she blurted out. "Wait, hold on. I dunno if... nah, I saw Marty getting friendly with a couple earlier, he'll probably be boning them tonight. So yeah, I'm free." She fidgeted with the crappy cocktail umbrella from her Americano. "You wanna stay over like, friends? Or with benefits? I'm down for either."

"Well, you are a total smokin' hot babe..." Rav tried giving her an exaggerated wink, but it came out half-hearted instead. "I'm sorry, I don't feel like it. I just really need somewhere to crash tonight."

"Hey, that's cool," Vidalia said, with her genuine smile showing she meant it. "You need someone to talk to?"

"Not in public!" The bar was far from peak time, but there were still enough people in there to hear. The last thing she wanted was to become part of the gossip... and, she realised, her shouting match with Linda would've done enough for that already.

"How about we get going, then?" Vidalia stepped off the stool, still sober enough to walk in a straight line. "My room's just round the corner. Gotta love the room assignment supporting my poor life choices."

Rav considered one more shot for the road (all free for the Sacred Band), but no. Enough poor life choices for now. Time to sort shit out.

* * *

Rav poured herself another shot of vodka from Vidalia's bottle, knocking it back in an instant.

"Yeah, it's my Pearl," she slurred. "The one you were telling me about. With the Rose Quarzz and the Chriso... whatever. It's her."

Vidalia was sitting beside her, desperate for another shot herself but holding back for her friend's sake. "Damn."

"And is's like, I try getting closer to her, but it's hard, you know? She just keess on... ugh... keeps on closing herself fucking off! I wanna be all, perfec love, everything happy, ugh, like fuckin' Ife an' Bibi and their perfect Garnet! But nooooo... fucked wih _Opal_ instead. Doesn' know wha she's doing. Useless. Jus useless."

Vidalia nodded. "Yeah. Same sort of thing here. Marty'd always rather be in some other girl's bed than mine. And I'd be fine with that. Hell, I sleep around my fair share too. But he doesn't give a shit about making _us_ work. Keeps making excuses to get out of fusing, too. Probably because our fusion's a barely-functioning mess."

She sighed, decided to pour herself some more vodka anyway, and downed the glass.

"Difference is? I don't really try either. Me and Marty are on the lowest tier of the Sacred Band already, and any lower is being kicked out. I'm just waiting for that to happen. But you actually want to make it work! That's better already."

"Doesn' feel like it," Rav mumbled, head slumped into her lap.

"Yeah." Not knowing what else to say, Vidalia put an arm around Rav, both hugging her and helping her sit upright.

"Is's jus..." Rav fumbled around for words. "Lin isn' gonna love me. Not wih anything I do. Too sad bout her hottie Freya bein gone in love wih the Chris guy. Ughhh..." She clung harder onto Vidalia, heavy arms grabbing around her. "Can't we jus fuse? We'd make a great fuzn. You an me. Amethys an Coral, whas tha make?"

"They hardly give anyone transfers, you know," Vidalia said. "All their bullshit about finding true love at first assignment, and if it ain't true, you ain't Sacred Band. Your Pearl was a real special case."

"Bu' why can't _we_ be a special case?" Rav leant against Vidalia, defeated. "Ugh. You really are a real hottie. I wasn' really joking bout tha, really. You said I could stay like friens wih benefits, yeah? Cos we can't fuse, so les's jus fuck."

"Nope. Nope, nope, nope. You are way too drunk for that. Way too drunk." Vidalia pried her arms off, then lifted her (kicking and struggling) under the arms into the big double bed, laying her down on her side. "Gotta sleep now, yeah?"

"Noooo," groaned Rav, squirming in the bedsheets and messing them up. "Too sad an horny."

"Yeah, well, tough luck." Vidalia turned out the light, then collapsed on the sofa to sleep.


End file.
